Be sure to follow our latest DPSAC Newsletter and see below for previous newsletters, articles and topics we have covered.
Do you have a Summer Student or Summer Intern who will be supporting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) this Summer? Please note that the NIH Summer Student program will be fully on-site for 2023. For remote summer students, DPSAC highly encourages use of Field Print to submit fingerprints at a location near them as soon as possible. This will also help ready students for seamless Badge Enrollment and Issuance at one of the five NIH PCIF locations when arriving on campus on their start day. For more information on Summer Students, please review this NIH Position Classification article on Summer Students. Please also feel free to send the following PDF or article to help Summer Students prepare as they get their badge: "Summer Students! Here Are Three Steps in Getting Your Badge."
- May 3, 2023 - "Review of NIH Position Classifications and Corresponding ID Badges"
Determining an individual's correct classification when registering him/her into NED is an important first step in the badging process, as this ensures that individual is vetted appropriately and issued the correct badge to allow them appropriate access at the NIH. Depending on the position classification, the individual will be eligible for one of three ID badge types. Readers are encouraged to read, bookmark and save this webpage: Review of NIH Position Classifications and Corresponding ID Badges, as this webpage allows readers to understand each of the 16 position classifications.
In order to ensure a systematic, dependable and uniform way of designating Federal Government positions, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in conjunction with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) provide the Position Designation Tool (PDT). The PDT is the required method to determine the correct background investigation for a position in the Federal Government. The PDT provides the ability to identify any national security or public trust responsibilities associated with the position. To develop a familiarity and understanding of the underlying logic for the PDT, the Position Designation System (PDS) is essential. Please read the newsletter to learn how to get further training on the PDT and the classes offered. You may also refer to our website and see the Four Step Process to Complete the PDT for your convenience.
As a reminder, before employees, contractors or affiliates can start a new position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or be issued a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) or Restricted Local Access (RLA) badge, they must complete the ‘Prescreening’ process through the Division of Personnel Security and Access Control (DPSAC). The prescreening process takes, on average, 30 business days from administrative badge sponsorship in NED to badge issuance, not including additional time incurred due to non-responsiveness of applicant, and suitability/security issues on prescreening paperwork. Please see this newsletter to find a useful checklist for AOs when assisting applicants go through prescreening smoothly.
- March 22, 2023 - "Clinical and Graduate Medical Education Fellows Processing"
Do you have a Clinical or Graduate Medical Education (GME) Fellow looking to complete their clinical fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)? Please be sure to read our full article here with specific details that will help you smoothly guide fellows and help them receive DPSAC prescreening clearance for Entry on Duty, and their NIH PIV badge in a timely manner.
We at DPSAC are very excited to share that our website has been recently renovated and reorganized to be more user friendly and to help readers like yourself to easily navigate and find necessary information. Due to these updates and changes to our website, it is likely that some old links will be broken and will not work. If you find a broken DPSAC link or are aware of any old links that may be directing your readers to our website within your IC, please contact us to let us know where the broken link is located. Or, if you are able to, please update your IC's website to the most updated DPSAC link(s) as well. Please note: Our homepage URL, FAQs page URL, and the Contact page URL have not changed and will not be affected. Thank you!
All PIV card holders are required to renew digital certificates that are tied to their badge in order to continue logging in, using email encryption, and/or digitally signing documents. Renewing digital certificates should be done before their expiration date. HHSIdentity will automatically contact any PIV card holder with an email alert requesting them to renew their digital certificates before their expiration date. Please read the full article in the newsletter to understand the three options that PIV card holders can choose from to renew their digital certificates!
DPSAC has learned that the NIH Summer Student program will be fully on-site for 2023. For administrators who will be involved in processing Summer Students, please read the newsletter for information on the type of badge that Summer Students will be receiving, the DPSAC process the Summer Students must go through in order to receive their badge and how you can help them go through this process seamlessly. For Summer Students, please read the article, "Summer Students! Here Are Three Steps in Getting Your Badge," to understand the process you must go through so you can start your work on your start date.
There are several reasons why an individual’s ID badge may have stopped working. While it is possible that an ID badge may be malfunctioning, most of the time, there is a corresponding event in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) that explains why an ID badge is no longer functioning. When a badge stops functioning, it will prevent the individual from opening doors or logging into their computer. Please read this full article that shares an overview of these various reasons why an ID badge might not be working and what is required to get the person a new badge (if necessary).
Before employees, contractors or affiliates can start a new position at the NIH or be issued an ID badge, they must complete the ‘Prescreening’ process through DPSAC. The prescreening process takes, on average, 30 business days from administrative badge sponsorship in NED to badge issuance, not including additional time incurred due to non-responsiveness of applicant, and suitability/security issues on prescreening paperwork. Read the most common Q&As and specifics about Prescreening, which also now includes a "DPSAC New Hire Prescreening Checklist for Program & Applicant," which is a useful checklist for all AOs to refer to.
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